Girls nursery

Creating a beautiful ethereal kids space is so simple with the addition of some gorgeous interior accessories and clever (but easy to achieve) styling. There’s such a movement towards beautiful, muted pastels, grey and soft watercolour textures in children’s interiors, that capture the imagination and are incredibly dreamy.

For a girls room, then dirty muted pinks, or a stylised wallpaper can work well to give the room depth and identity, or go with a grey, Little Greene does some fantastic shades – My favourite is Dorchester Pink. For unbeatably beautiful wallpaper then you must visit hibouhome.com for the swans, clouds and stars, all designed and made in England.

To add even more magic then try applying some removable wall stickers in glitter stars from Little Cloud Kids, they come in gold or silver (and it’s fine to mix metallics too!)

We’re hoping to be moving house in 4 weeks, but we’ve used these in Willa’s existing room, and they are so easy to use and position. They add just the right amount of sparkle and we’ve used them on white walls- it’s still easy to get a magic look with white. In the next house I’ll be taking all these items but I’ll be painting the walls muted blush.

The essential accessory to any magical kidsroom is a canopy, and ours is the grey colourway from Numero74 which you can find at Molly Meg in lots of colour options along with loads of coordinating items. We have a few of the star cushions which come in different colours and textures which we’ve placed with our silver moon cushion by Marjorie Minnie.

Pinterest is a huge source of inspiration and I’ve started to collate a board with some of my favourite images- a few of which are below. You’ll find our Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/velveteenbabies1 where we have lots of kidsroom inspiration and also pictures of our products that you can pin to your boards.

Source: Pinterest

There’s another few components shown to creating a successful kidsroom with a magical feel. Lighting is crucial. Find wire fairy lights and wrap around a cloud or moon shape to create your own, or Cox&Cox have a star shape ready lit.

Mrs Mighetto prints are the perfect partner too and are made in limited editions each season. Ours are AW 2016 which had a circus identity, but this season the collection is based around nature. Our current favourite is Miss Alice. We’ve framed ours in grey wood, but they look incredible in eclectic vintage frames or on a wooden print hanger. We also love the monochrome prints from Ella and the Roo which are really beautiful- no need to stick to the rules- a wall covered in tonal prints in different styles can look incredible if you are brave.

Mr Moon Garland from the Velveteen Babies shop

.Bunting from Numero 74 is easy to string up and gives an extra dimension to prints and wallspace, and our garlands are such an easy way to add another dimension to a magical space.

Textiles and texture lend a luxe feel to any children’s room, so look for a bed cover in velvet or linen in muted shades. Cammomile London have a few beautiful styles and then pile cushions on top- moons, stars, and tassel detail work perfectly. Work with a few different colours otherwise it might feel flat, or inject some metallics if you do, it’ll lift a scheme easily.

Finally, add some accessories with a nod to the feel- perhaps a row of glistening crowns on a shelf, or a vintage vase filled with fairy wands. Molly Meg has such a beautiful selection, and you’ll find the prettiest crowns from Fable Heart, including sweet toy size ones.

Our Mr Moon decoration is a gorgeous easy addition to a canopy or wall, and we adore this moon coverlet from Amayadeeme.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been putting together a special space for my 7 month old daughter, Willa. My brief was to create a magical nursery space that would also have many aspects that could grow up with her, rather than a typical ‘nursery’ scheme which would date and become obsolete. My only bugbear is the flooring- an inherited beige carpet that we can’t do much about at the moment!

I particularly wanted to introduce greys and soft blush pink to the scheme, and accents of white, silver and black. For now the walls are painted simple white emulsion, but if we stay in our current house for longer then I have plans to paint the walls a muted pale blush pink. Instead of a wall colour for now, I’ve used Mrs Mighetto circus prints which I sourced from Cissywears and Home and Me which I had framed in painted dark grey wood and stick on silver glitter stars from Little Cloud Kids.

Willa’s Room has sloping ceilings and beams which are painted white, so I strung up Numero74 grey velvet bunting from Scandiminis and I treat Willa (myself) to a grey feather Vita Eos light shade because I knew it would be perfect.

Fortunately the ceilings are still fairly high so that we were able to hang up her grey Numero 74 canopy (also from Scandiminis) on a cup hook inserted into a plug in the ceiling and I strung battery lights from lights4fun inside which are on fine metal thread.

I wanted to find something for the back wall behind Willa’s cot to team up with her sparkly star wall stickers, and I found the perfect white crescent moon light from Lights4fun. It’s ideal as it’s so simple, and can be switched on and off on the side and easily mounted on the wall. I love the simplicity of it- it was just what I wanted for that area of the wall and it’s so dreamy at night.
Next to Willa’s cot stands a beautiful solid wire basket with lid, sourced from The Modern Nursery, and I’ve used it as a stand for Willa’s Miffy light which has a dimmer switch so creates a lovely soft light in her nursery by night. Other lovely lighting comes from Ginger Rock Designs and is a sparkly blush raindrop that sits on her bookshelves alongside magical bird toys from Ilka Design.

We are really lucky to have an original Victorian fireplace in Willa’s room and it makes for a beautiful focal point. It’s the ideal place to store some of her treasures which I’ve carefully displayed. Her plywood name is by Lala Loves Decor and her wooden circus tent by UP! Warsaw from Emi and Nell (UK stockist) which is a nice match with her Miss Mighetto circus collection framed posters.

Willa’s simple cot is just from Ikea, as I’d rather buy her a beautiful bed when she’s old enough, rather than spending a fortune on matchy matchy nursery furniture.

Willa’s rag rug pulls together all the pastel shades and is by Bloomingville interiors. I found it via the Scandinavian Design Centre. The toy cot next to the fireplace is from This Modern Life which is full of Willa’s toy friends. In the fireplace are Willa’s gorgeous pink letter blocks by Too Many PJ’s (you can order any letter combinations to spell out any phrase or name).

Swan print by Pax and Hart from The Little Baby Company, Louis Ghost chair by Kartell, and luggy toy basket from Olli Ella at This Modern Life. Willa’s crochet name is from Little Cloud Kids and her quilted swan coverlet is by Cam Cam Copenhagen. It’s the perfect dusty pink shade.

Willa has the most beautiful lamb toys from Just Acorn which are immaculately handmade. They are divine and Barbara from Just Acorn makes just a few different creatures each week to sell. It’s worth following her on Instagram at instagram.com/just_acorn for updates on her magical creations. I don’t think it’ll be long until I’m buying a friend for Mrs Lamb and her sleepy baby!

Beautiful house dolls cot by Jones and Parker toys.

Of course, Willa had to have her own Velveteen Babies garland, so I created this style with her room in mind. Silvery stars and a shiny moon are perfect next to her canopy and aren’t overbearing when there’s so much going on in her scheme. I also bought a beautiful silver moon cushion from Marjorie Minnie and a grey velvet Numero 74 star cushion to sit in her cot to coordinate the scheme. Further cushions from The Velvet Egg tie in with the circus references.

The final flourish will be the addition of this Aro for kids embroidery, which I’ve ordered. I can’t wait for it to arrive!

Willa’s Room might be based around a colour palette of modern pastel, with the palest of grey walls and a blush pink house shaped paint relief- colour note: Farrow and Ball Pink Ground (a dusty blush)

We may strip the carpets and paint the floor, and use a circular rug in twisted pastel hues from Bloomingville to tie in the scheme and give some warmth and texture.
I sourced our rug from The Scandinavian Design Centre .

Also on the floor will be Willa’s Miffy light which has a lovely dimmer switch which will keep her room cosy at night.

Toy storage for her softies will come in the form of Ferm Living grid bag, which has luxe leather handles and is deep enough to store a generous amount of her squishy toys! It’s also safe for her to empty and pull whilst she’s tiny.

On the walls.

I’ve invested in yet another beautiful print by Pax+Hart (we already have several and I’m a huge fan). This time I’ve gone for the Sunday Swans and have found a really good UK stockist of all the Pax and Hart prints (including the ones trickier to source) and other nursery decor which is The Little Baby Company . I can’t decide to frame it in white or use a wooden magnet hanger, I think I’ll wait until we decorate.

Not shown will be the front walls which I plan to shelve with Ribba shelves from Ikea for some of Willa’s beautiful story book collection, we have all the collection of the ‘Little people, big dreams’ to read to her.

For the ceiling light in Willa’s Room I wanted to create a soft cloud effect and sourced a feathery fluffy feminine classic light- I went with the Vita EOS light shade which you can find at Molly Meg in the UK.

Adding some drama and more light to the room comes in the form of looped white festoon garland which I may hang from a wooden hook or peg, or perhaps the wall mountable ring from Ferm Living.

Willa’s existing white ash String Shelves may be hung above the cot to display her pretty knock knacks, keeping it clean and uncluttered.

We will buy a simple white wardrobe from Ikea to store her clothes as there will be enough going on in the room- it’s only a small space so we wanted to keep it clean and bright.